Cork or stopper.



PATENTED MAR. 17, 1903.

No- 722,657. I W. G. AIKIN & J. T. PULLIAM.

CORK OR STOPPER. APPLICATION FILED my 21, 1902.

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WILLIAM GASTON AIKIN AND JARRETT THOMPSON PULLIAM, OF CENTURY,

FLORIDA.

CORK OR STOPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,657, dated March 17, 1903.

Application filed May 21,1902. serial No. 108,441. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM GASTON AIKIN, M. D., and J ARRETT THOMPSON PUL- LIAM, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Century, in the county of Escambia, in the State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corks or Stoppers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in corks or stoppers for bottles, having for its object primarily the production of a cork or stopper which shall take the place of the ordinary cork, which latter material, owing to its most extensive demand and use, is becoming scarce. We have after long search and experiment discovered a valuable and highly-useful substance which serves the purpose equally as well as, if not better than, the ordinary cork wood now employed for this purpose.

Our corks or stoppers possess all of the de-' sirable qualities of corks or stoppers made of ordinary cork and in addition thereto the further quality of being more durable, not so liable to become broken in use or while being withdrawn by a cork-puller or any other ,implement, and the further desirable quality of not being affected by acids and other liquids. We have discovered that the wood and roots, particularly the latter, of the Nyssa multifiora, the Cupressus thyoides, the Myriad cem'fem, and the Nyssa possess these qualities to a remarkable degree. They are also more buoyant, thus adapting them for use in life-preservers, buoys, caissons, and various other purposes where cork is now employed.

Any suitable machinery may be employed for the manufacture of the corks or stoppers from the wood or roots of the above-named species, and corks or stoppers thus made will be found possessed of a capacity of greater compression than ordinary cork, and especially when out so that the grain or pores of the wood or root shall extend at an angle to the length of the cork they will serve very effectually.

We have found from experience that corks made of the above-named woods require no chemical or other treatment, and we propose to make stoppers of difierent forms adapted for use in connection with different styles of bottles, jars, and the like.

The trees hereinbefore named are known in this locality as tupelo-gum, cypress, bay-root, and black-gum, respectively.

We sometimes submit the wood or roots to great pressure, as they are capable of considerable compression, and then when used in the bottles or other receptacles containing liquid they are expanded by the moisture, so as to be most firmly held in position.

Figure 1 is a section of the cork before being compressed, and Fig. 2 is a similar view of the compressed cork.

The woods and roots of the various trees above mentioned we consider the equivalents of each other, as they are of substantially like natures, as we have found from experience, and therefore where in the following claims We specify one we wish to be understood as not restricting ourselves to that particular species, but intend to cover each and all of them.

What is claimed as new is-- 1. A cork, stopper or the like made from a porous compressible wood of the Nyssa multz'flom, (tupelo-gum.)

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a cork or stopper made from a readily-compressible root out with the grain or pores extending at an angle to the length of the cork, substantially as described.

3. As an improved article of manufacture, a cork or stopper made from a readily-compressible wood out with the grain or pores extending at an angle to the length of the cork and compressed, substantially as described.

Signed by us at Century, Florida, this 19th day of May, 1902.

Will. GASTON AIKIN. I JARRETT THOMPSON PULLIAM.

Witnesses:

G. GIRRAU GRIFFITH, JAMES M. DAWSON. 

